SU Café Reopens with Wust Al Balad
BY HANNAH ALTMANN
@hannahaltmann
![The Student Union Cafe reopened with a new vendor - Wust El Balad [Archives]](http://www.auccaravan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/SU-cafe-e1415192685461.jpg)
The Student Union Cafe reopened with a new vendor – Wust El Balad [Archives]
The Student Union (SU) Café has overcome a number of supply and hygiene hurdles and reopened with new oriental food vendor Wust Al Balad.Wust Al Balad, located near campus on Road 90, began in early October delivering ready-made sandwiches and desserts to the SU Café in a bid to test campus response.
“We sampled [the food] and the response was great. I did not get a single complaint about the food,” said SU Café Manager Moataz Mostafa, a Mechanical Engineering sophomore.“I tried the shish tawook (skewered chicken) over there and it’s really good, and the quality is good and the taste as well,” said Seif Issa, Multimedia Journalism senior.
Issa added that Wust Al Balad’s prices are reasonable – an important factor for AUCians when they ponder where to eat on campus. sold at a reasonable price.
“We don’t sell what we have,” said Mostafa, “We sell what [the students] need because the SU is about serving the students.”
Baher Hassan, student project manager at the Office of Student Development (OSD) added that there are certain criteria needed to accept a vendor.
“Healthy food, valid health certificate, positive test analysis of the food samples and reasonable prices to the AUC community [are all factors we take into consideration],” Hassan said.
Over the past years vendors have either violated or come short of the aforementioned criteria, which led to the SU Café’s closure several times.
Last year, Harris Café, a restaurant serving international food, signed a contract to operate with the SU Café for the entire year. On the other hand, it only worked for the duration of Fall 2013 and left the SU Café in closure for Spring 2014.
Harris Café sold its food items without a discount, which resulted in it being too expensive for students, said Samer Salem, chair of the Public Services Committee in the SU and a Petroleum Engineering junior.
He also said that its food quality was not up to the university’s standards.
Salem said that even when the SU Café is operating, it does not receive much attention from students due to poor marketing.
“People didn’t know about the SU Café. A lot of people, mostly freshmen, didn’t know that the SU had such a project,” he added.
“The SU Café hasn’t been marketed well before. I didn’t hear about it, I didn’t know that it opened,” said Saad El Kadi, Mechanical Engineering senior.
Youssef Medhat, an undeclared freshmen, added that although he heard of the SU Café’s reopening, he never tried it because he doesn’t “remember it when [he] looks for food”.
Mostafa said that considering there haven’t been any violations or comments regarding Wust Al Balad’s service, they are thinking of extending their contract.
“The contract is only for one semester but we’re willing to keep [Wust Al Balad for a longer period],” he added.
He said that the SU Café will soon set up a suggestion box for students to write down what they wish to have added to their menu.
